"At Risk" Transforming Deficit Myths About Learning, Language and Culture September 29th, 2019 By Emily Williams Right when children walk through the schools doors, they're labeled as "at risk." This socially constructed label is used to separate and isolate students, and to explain failure without considering important factors, such as class, race, and gender inequities. There are many assumptions and beliefs used to label children as "at risk." The first is that it is automatically assumed that and "at risk" students is going to have a language problem, that their language and culture are deficient. The second assumption is that children need be separated from the classroom to work on their language development somewhere else, normally without groups of students, which hinders their learning even farther. The 3rd assumption is that standardized testing accurately measures and identifies students who have learning/l...
I was wondering what your thoughts were on connecting the critical reading book club articles to the ideas brought up in Baldwin. It seems as if there is some kind of a one two punch of ideas when it comes to the readings. we have a societal critique in Baldwin's speech, and the setting up of a possible solution in the other two articles. I would again like to know your thoughts on the matter, how would you run a classroom book club?
ReplyDeleteParker,
DeleteAfter reading Baldwins implements to teachers I found him to feel that African American children are continously overlooked and misrepresented in classrooms. I feel that for my own classroom to have a book club they will have a list of books to choose from, simply books that children can identify with the characters and see themsevles in the novels they chose. I also do not want my students to feel it is an assignment or task of busy work but as a learning experience. once the classroom can talk and discuss the readings they will be open to share with the class about the books. my goal is to have the classroom talking to one another but the issues in the book or real world events instead of gossiping or disucssing irrelevant things. by creating a book club we are creating a classroom community, one that is open to discussing topics and feeling safe in doing so. by reading Baldwins advice I think it is best as teachers to use our resources and implement a comfortable enviornment that students are represented appropriatley in.
I loved the quote you included that said, “We should not have to sugarcoat or simply degrade someone’s history because as a nation we are ashamed of wrongdoings.” I also loved that you included the talk about history being “erased” or “sugarcoated” so to speak. It really got my brain thinking! I have witnessed a ton of this kind of thing when it comes to history! There was a social studies book at one point that totally erased the whole Trail of Tears event by saying that the Native Americans “agreed” to give up their land. If that is really what happened, then one, why was it called the Trail of Tears? If they agreed to leave, then that name doesn’t make much sense for the event, and two, even though what happened was not right in anyway by forcing people away from their home, there should never have been any sugarcoat or outright lie about what happened in that event in history. It happens all the time and for students to see that, especially if it is someone/people of their culture, it makes them feel unimportant because their TRUTHFUL history is erased to make others look better.
ReplyDeleteI also loved the first question you asked here! I 100% believe that there are connections between how the curriculum is being taught in classrooms based on how the country is being ran. I feel that when the country is ran in a way where there is a lot of violence and racism acts, that will bleed over into the education system. Education and politics are closely related because the curriculum that is handed to teachers to teach are given to them by those who work for the government. Everything is related, so when there are great issues in society, our students bring that with them to the classroom. When the country is ran in a way where bad things happen, students can experience those and bring that into the classroom with questions and stories (I've watched this happen and it is heartbreaking!). This leads us to teaching the curriculum in a way that will personally relate to our students, so I definitely believe that the country’s state impacts the curriculum and classroom state as well.
The textbooks were such a big part of growing up that didn’t talk about the trail of tears. I can remember a student asking about it and the teacher lying about what really happened. as we get older i can remember one teacher in high school that told us he wouldn’t sugarcoat or lie to us about the history. this really opened my eyes because we are being taught incorrect information and think of all the students the ignorance has reached! I think that the events going on in our lives are really important to what’s being brought into the classroom. especially with ice and other things going on that the kids go through daily. my teachers growing up never included this into the classroom!
DeleteHi Bailee!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your post. I agree with you that history books and the media around us tampers the actual history that our country has. An example of this is in the article "Book Club: An alternative framework for reading instruction.". In Bart's log entry for his book club he draws a picture of a fair. He then draws a picture of an airplane flying over the fair dropping bombs. Bart was capturing a "memorial event to honor those who had died from the bomb." (105). This is Bart's idea of a memorial for bomb victims and it has been completely misconstrued through the media. I believe this example is very telling of how media affects people thoughts, opinions and ideas. Through the years history has been changed just like how our ideas of war have changed and developed through the media.
To answer your third question, "Why do you feel people find learning the truth about our nation's history in the classroom to be upsetting or uncomfortable?", I believe are different things that play into this. One, I believe it is because history has painted a picture of what learning U.S. history in the classroom should look like through our text books and historical milestones such as Columbus Day which you mentioned. Another reason is because people feel targeted when learning about their history. For example, when learning about slavery White individuals may feel ashamed of the history while Black individuals may feel anger towards the majority.
I agree the media is very one sided story with a lot and it is important to see what we believe and not believing EVERYTHING we read on the internet. it is vital as teachers that we take into play the accurate history. as far as feeling uncomfortable i can see that side but it should motivate our generation to talk about things and be open with it. we can make changes for the future generations instead of making changes of the past. we simply cannot fix it.
DeleteI am so glad that you included the quote saying, "It is your job to change society if you think of yourself as an educated person." Sometimes I feel like we forget how important our little impact can have on the bigger picture. As educated individuals, our job is to move forward and create a better world. This ties in to the fourth question you asked about feeling uncomfortable talking about history. I have felt uncomfortable talking to a handful of my family members about events that took place in history. Many individuals are uneducated to this day when it comes to the truth about many historical events. I think people are upset when they find out about the true history because this knowledge makes them question how much else has been a lie. I feel like some people may find it upsetting to find out that we have been given a white-washed perception of history. Although it makes you uncomfortable, I think it is part of our obligation as educated individuals to continue to share the knowledge with others. That is why I continue to have the hard conversations with my family members.
ReplyDeleteThis was from Stephanie.
DeleteI love that you have these conversations with your family! i know these can be very tough especially in regards to family members. it is something we often bite our tongue over when we do not see eye to eye especially with our family members. i think that by talking about it now we can make the conversations flow and become more comfortable. i feel people are always very timid when it comes to topics and do not want to particularly discuss them. hopefully the talks become easier the more you talk about it and can further educate them!
DeleteI really loved the questions that you asked so I’m going to answer a couple of them. I think that people get upset or uncomfortable when learning about our nation's actual history because that’s not what has been preached to us since we were little. Just recently people are really starting to dig into the awful things that our country has done, like the internment camps during World War 2, or now with keeping kids in cages at the border. It’s easier to deny the truth than to realize our country really is flawed and built on the blood of others, contrary to what many country leaders are wanting us to believe. There have been whole textbooks recalled because of the language used in them, trying to cover up things that has happened in America. It’s so important as teachers to read over the material being used in class, and to really do the research properly to bring in culturally relevant, and historically accurate reading material.
ReplyDeleteI notice a lot with the way the curriculum is being taught vs how the country tries to carry itself. Recently, many citizens in America have been all about “making America great again”, while trying to erase the terrible things that this country really has done. The country is being ran in a way that is literally making people fear for their lives, and the government is separating children from families and keeping them in cages, not letting them have any communication with their parents. This is going to affect the way that we are teaching our students, as many of our students could potentially be without their parents. We’ll have to do things like Enlace Academy, and fight for our rights by making posters fighting this.
This was from Emily.
DeleteI didn’t know there were textbooks recalled because of this! that makes me feel so much better that teachers are noticing these things are wrong in the classroom. i also like the maga reference and that it is noticed because people don’t realize when hearing that slogan how rude it is to society because we undermine over half of the horrible problems going on. especially in our classroom. i also like how you’ve noticed the posters in enlance academy. it is so important that we create these environments in our own classroom and make the students feel known
DeleteAmazing post! I really liked how you started off your blog post with your own personal experience and feelings and then related that to a quote from Baldwin. I also like what you said about how we shouldn't be sugarcoating just because we are ashamed of our wrong doings as a nation. We shouldn't try something sound better than it is to protect our kids or shelter them. Kids should become fully educated on things that have happened in our history and not just be fed the "not so bad" version. When this happens the future of our society is being given wrong information and not knowing the real story of their own history. We shouldn't be teaching by just reading the history book word for word to our students, because that right there is not the full story. It is a single story. By doing that you are allowing the people who write those textbooks to decide what is and isn't important for young minds to know about their own culture and history. There is so much more to our history than what is shown in textbooks and it is our job to teach our students the things that are being forgotten. I feel like as a student in my own school from elementary to high school I was definitely taught mostly out of the textbook and didn't learn about much outside of that. As a future educator today, I see that there is so much more to learn about than what is in our textbooks and the importance of making your students feel represented in their classroom.
ReplyDeleteAnswering your fourth question, "Have you ever felt yourself to be uncomfortable discussing the history with adults or students?", I personally have with adults who are not afraid to speak their mind and are much louder than myself. I am not going to have a conversation with an adult who can't simply have a conversation and only wants to argue why they're right and why I am wrong. That is where I get uncomfortable because I am not going to try to educate an adult who clearly doesn't want to hear what I have to say. I haven't been in this kind of situation with students yet, but I am sure I will at some point in my career if a student has a differing view than what I am teaching. In that situation, I would want to hear what they have to say and not shut them down because I want my classroom to be a space where everyone has a chance to speak.
I’m so glad you brought up the single story! i think so often teachers get caught up in single sided stories and forget to let their students educate them as well. we can learn so much from our students aside from
Deletethe textbooks and what we provide them with. we’ve also been taught to include other things instead of reading straight from a textbook. when i think of history class i remember reading word for word from a history book that improperly informed me as a student. it is vital for future teachers to notice this as well considering we were given these misconceptions and now it is our job to fix the cycle. i also like your personal experience as i feel everyone has dealt with this. i think that ignorance is born where education is lacking. people being closed minded it often turns to arguments because they are not open to hear your side. including a safe space in the classroom also helps because the kids can learn to be open minded and listen with the intent of understanding verses replying. by teaching this young maybe they can help break the cycle of closed minded conversations and shutting down when other students have different opinions.
Hellooooooo! I love that you emphasize the importance of both keeping students informed about current events AND providing them with an accurate representation of history. If you just have one or the other, you're missing half of the picture. Being informed about history is vital for understanding how society arrived at where it is today (thus painting a fuller picture of current events issues), and that's why we have to make sure students are not being fed outdated or biased information about what happened. This can be very difficult, as we are not the ones writing the textbooks. What's more, the true picture of history is not all that pleasant to look at sometimes. But that just makes it that much more important, and hopefully we can steer our students in the right direction and push them to ask critical questions. Love your blog, Bailee!!
ReplyDeletethank you so much sam! i am glad you have the same outlook and can see where we go wrong with reading strictly from textbooks. we all got here somehow and if we have the wrong perception on how we got here it will affect how we view life today. our society was not built from peace and everyone loving each other and it is shown history most definitely repeats itself. how was history so peaceful if we have so much hate still in this world for people that are different. it is our job we teachers to stop overlooking the past and understanding the hardships minorities went through to get where we are today.
DeleteHello Bailee! I truly loved everything you had to say in your blog post. I especially appreciated the quote "if we are properly educating these students early on we can squash the ignorance before it is developed" I believe that this quote brings up many good points such as hate is not born, it is taught and that ignorance plays a vital role in keeping racism and other -isms alive in today's society. I also think that this quote can help answer one of your questions that you asked: "Why do you feel people find learning the truth about our nation's history in the classroom to be upsetting or uncomfortable?" Ignorance and societal norms have deemed these conversations and truths upsetting and uncomfortable. You quoted Baldwin saying that "one of the paradoxes of education was that precisely at the point when you begin to develop a conscience, you must find yourself at war with your society." I think that these points go hand-in-hand due to Baldwin pointing out that once you gain a conscience of the world around you, you become at war with it but it has to be talked about no matter how uncomfortable or upsetting because we have to be the ones to change it. I apologize if that was rambling, I do that when I get really passionate about something and your blog was truly passionate!
ReplyDeleteThis was done by Hayley. I have to fix my settings.
Deleteit is fine i’m glad you found my blog to be something passionate about! i feel as a future teacher if we aren’t passionate about these topics then something is wrong and we shouldn’t become teachers. i love the thought of ignorance not being born but taught. because even i have been ignorant in a sense unconsciously towards things i lacked education in. if we can admire that we were wrong and we can grow once properly educated then i think we all are going in the right direction
DeleteHi Bailee!
ReplyDeleteI loved your post! I love that you brought up keeping our teaching of history “woke” but also asking the question about teaching our history to kindergarteners the same as 4th graders. It makes you think about the importance of that age and when we really need to start getting our student’s mind rolling and asking the hardest questions. I also loved the quote about degrading ones history because we feel shameful, to answer one of your questions. I don’t feel uncomfortable talking about our nations history because I know knowledge is power. The more knowledge you have about the past the less likely history will repeat itself. Unfortunately I feel as though history is repeating itself due to how our nation is being run today (to answer another question 😉). My hope is that myself as a teacher can teach the new generation of kids so that history will not repeat itself.
i love the quote knowledge is power ! once we are full of education and proper knowledge we can do anything. it is so important to have this mindset as teachers. history is repeating itself and i’m so glad you realize this because people often overlook this fact or are too ignorant to comprehend that it is happening. your goal is one i hope many teachers take to mind! the last thing we need is for history to repeat itself
DeleteBailee,
ReplyDeleteYour post was so intriguing to me, I loved the "woke" aspect, like Breaira said! The quote you put from Baldwin about being at war with society really hit home with me. It is so true that we need to be critics of our world, constantly ensuring that our students and people of our society are getting their needs met EQUITABLY. If that means that we have to fight to make changes, then that is what we need to do. If we don't, who will?
To answer some of your questions - I think there is a huge connection between how the country is ran, and how teachers educate. Our nation focuses SO HEAVILY on testing, that teachers feel pressured to also mainly focus on this aspect, leaving out being culturally relevant and responsive inclusive of all learners, and meeting their Hierarchy of needs. Everyone wants to just jump into the curriculum, but many students are still failing the tests, so why haven't we changed things yet? You would think with all the evidence based on student performance with different forms of assessment that we would not need a standardized test that only adheres to a certain social group. I think this is one thing by which we can help fight against, even if don't win the battle, we can try to progress change with the testing. We know it is not equitable, we know it is not showing everything our students know, all the great things they have learned, how they have grown as individuals - the test does not show that, and it never will.
I also think some people find it uncomfortable knowing the truth about history because they feel ashamed for what our nation has done, being that we are a part of this nation. It can be hard to own up to wrong doings, even if it was not directly your own, no one loves to admit it. I also think it can make people uncomfortable because they want to refuse to believe it, and stick to what they know, what they were taught in school or by their own family members. It is HARD to be a critical thinker, and it easy to just go along with whatever you see or read. Overall, your blog really made me think about who I want to be as an educator, and about our past history and the things we can do to develop change!
I love how you took into context testing from the article. it is so nice to share ideas and our thoughts on these things because we can pull things we never thought of before. currently in my class within the first three weeks we are testing kindergartens and forcing the importance of a test score on the students which creates negative connotations with school at young ages. i think that we need to create open minded thinkers and critical thinkers which is a huge role we should play in the students lives. if we are not developing critical thinkers the students will feel they cannot share their thoughts but rather conform to their friends and what they are thinking. i think this is something every teacher should work on because if we are going to create a better society then we need to start by developing young minds.
DeleteBailee, your approach to book clubs in this blog was really eye-opening to me! I like your emphasis on student representation. It is so true that when students are given an opportunity to relate to what they're reading and later share those connections, the entire class benefits and grows together while the students no longer feel overlooked or misrepresented. It gives them an opportunity to speak for themselves.
ReplyDeleteAlthough it is vital that students are given the opportunity to be represented and voice their experiences and connections to what they are reading, I also feel that they need to be exposed to some uncomfortable, unfamiliar material as well when necessary. This blog post and many of the comments before me emphasize that we have to be willing to step out of our comfort zones and learn about the parts of history that aren't talked about, and that is something that HAS to be incorporated into our classrooms as well. Even if we are uncomfortable with a truth, we have to teach it. Even if our students are uncomfortable with a truth, they have to learn it. Ignorance is not bliss!
It can be intimidating to think about telling a group of students what our country did to marginalize, detain, enslave, and degrade people in the past. However, we can be motivated to do so by realizing that these truths, though painful, are also freeing. I think the reason it can be difficult for some to learn the truth about our nation is because there is a risk of bringing current day patterns of this marginalization to light. But we cannot disregard the fact that for one group of our society to live in the dark (in a false reality of our history), means that all groups will remain in that false reality until somebody dares to expose the truth!
This was written by Samantha.
DeleteI agree i think that if the students are open to books that represent their lives then they will become passionate and excited about what we are learning. my goal is for the kids to discuss books outside of the classroom instead of only wanting to talk about how boring the book was and how they could never see themselves in that position. i think that bringing the uncomfortable conversations and letting the students be the educators for the time being we can learn more from them possibly than we think.
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